Upon returning from holiday recently, I started to prepare for a one hour slot at Mums The Boss' International Women's Day Conference: I had been asked to speak on behalf of Minerva's Mind about "Boosting Your Inner Confidence".
Although Kate & I have delivered workshops on this topic before, I felt that I should try a different approach with this particular audience. As the week progressed, I allowed my creativity to take over; by Sunday night I was trying to work out how many different techniques I could meaningfully explore in my allotted time.
The session went well. It's a vibrant, positive group and the room filled with energy as they immersed themselves in the interactive elements of my session. (In part, I believe this is because Helen and Sam, who are Mums the Boss (MTB) have fostered a lovely, supportive environment that is now integral to the MTBoss Brand.) I left the event, feeling full of energy and alive with ideas.
As a thank you gift, the MTB team gave me a beautiful purple orchid. I've always wanted an orchid and it now sits proudly in my kitchen. Whenever I take a break during the day from my work, I go downstairs to make a cup of coffee. I see my beautiful purple orchid and it reminds me of the positive emotions that I felt on International Womens Day. This gives me the boost I require to go back to work, envigorated and often with a surge of creative inspiration.
What I'm experiencing with my Purple Orchid is what NLP practitioners would call "anchoring". I'm sorry if I upset anybody when I say this, but I'm not a fan of NLP, and don't really believe that "achoring" works. With NLP, individuals are asked to recall a past event or moment and use that as their "anchor". In the past, this technique has not worked for me. Partly as I forget what I've chosen as my "anchor" or the emotions that I recall for my "anchor" are not strong enough to have an impact. But not this time. For me, the "anchoring" occured at the point that I recieved the gift and I have consciously fostered the postive emotions attached to it. My purple orchid is powerful.
We're all different and "anchoring" may work for you, or it may not. From my perspective, my purple orchid brings so much positive engery into my life and I would like to thanks the MTB team again for giving me such a wonderful flower.
Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts
Friday, 26 March 2010
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Be Creative About Staff Development
This post was originally posted on the HR Store blog page. (www.thehrstore.blogspot.com/2009/09/guest-post-be-creative-about-staff)
Recently I have been thinking about how we develop our staff and ourselves. This subject seems to weave it's way into almost every aspect of my work at the moment: I've been delivering appraisal training to several different organisations: a staff's Personal Development Plan is discussed as part of the course; I recently delivered a break-out session at a Coaching conference on Continued Professional Development; and I'm going to be delivering a practical developmental seminar for coaches next month.
In the course of this work, through discussions and feedback from participants, I've begun to realise that there's a real need to change the way that managers approach the development of their staff.
Traditionally, when a manager writes a Personal Development Plan (PDP) as part of their staff's performance appraisal, external training is identified: some kind of taught course, a conference, further education resulting in a recognised qualification.
But at the moment, with the recession still biting at our heels, the organisational development budgets are not as large as they were a few years ago. Managers now need to start considering how to develop their staff in a cost-efficient way. So I'll give you an example:
A junior manager pulled me aside on a training session. He wanted a piece of advice on what course he could send a member of staff on who needed training in how to manage difficult conversations - there were no more places left on the in-house conflict resolution training, and all external courses cost more than his departmental training budget would allow.
So I asked a question: "Who do you know, more senior to you in this organisation, who is able to manage difficult conversations?" The junior manager was quickly able to identify someone.
So I said: "How about you approach this person to ask them if they could support you in developing your member of staff? Let's develop a plan."
1) Your member of staff and the manager will need an initial meeting - to make sure they can work together for this specific development need.
2) Your member of staff will then attend a couple of meetings to observe the manager managing a difficult conversation.
3) The member of staff will meet with the manager again and talk through his observations. The manager will in turn talk through some of the techniques they use to manage difficult conversations.
4) The member of staff will return to the workplace & apply their learning.
5) The member of staff and manager will meet again, perhaps one or two times to consolidate learning: identify any challenges, reflect on application to date, and measure the progress made.
It's quite simple really - and all it will take is the resource of time and commitment from the manager and the member of staff . Some might say that this is a form of mentorship - and I suppose that they would be right. However, this mentor relationship is defined for a specific need, and is time limited. The key benefit is that this form of development opportunity has high impact and is sustainable. The added benefit is the networking opportunities that it creates for the member of staff, and the exposure to a wider range of issues beyond their current sphere of work.
In essence, this idea is based on one of my key principles that development and growth is natural, given the right conditions. Choosing the right role model and having the opportunity to observe, then reflect and discuss with them their approach can happen in any organisation, anywhere. The example I give is just one way that a manager can demonstrate creative thinking when identifying the appropriate learning method to meet a development need.
When you're next completing a Personal Development Plan for a member of your staff - try and think creatively. If you need inspiration - please feel free to ask.
Recently I have been thinking about how we develop our staff and ourselves. This subject seems to weave it's way into almost every aspect of my work at the moment: I've been delivering appraisal training to several different organisations: a staff's Personal Development Plan is discussed as part of the course; I recently delivered a break-out session at a Coaching conference on Continued Professional Development; and I'm going to be delivering a practical developmental seminar for coaches next month.
In the course of this work, through discussions and feedback from participants, I've begun to realise that there's a real need to change the way that managers approach the development of their staff.
Traditionally, when a manager writes a Personal Development Plan (PDP) as part of their staff's performance appraisal, external training is identified: some kind of taught course, a conference, further education resulting in a recognised qualification.
But at the moment, with the recession still biting at our heels, the organisational development budgets are not as large as they were a few years ago. Managers now need to start considering how to develop their staff in a cost-efficient way. So I'll give you an example:
A junior manager pulled me aside on a training session. He wanted a piece of advice on what course he could send a member of staff on who needed training in how to manage difficult conversations - there were no more places left on the in-house conflict resolution training, and all external courses cost more than his departmental training budget would allow.
So I asked a question: "Who do you know, more senior to you in this organisation, who is able to manage difficult conversations?" The junior manager was quickly able to identify someone.
So I said: "How about you approach this person to ask them if they could support you in developing your member of staff? Let's develop a plan."
1) Your member of staff and the manager will need an initial meeting - to make sure they can work together for this specific development need.
2) Your member of staff will then attend a couple of meetings to observe the manager managing a difficult conversation.
3) The member of staff will meet with the manager again and talk through his observations. The manager will in turn talk through some of the techniques they use to manage difficult conversations.
4) The member of staff will return to the workplace & apply their learning.
5) The member of staff and manager will meet again, perhaps one or two times to consolidate learning: identify any challenges, reflect on application to date, and measure the progress made.
It's quite simple really - and all it will take is the resource of time and commitment from the manager and the member of staff . Some might say that this is a form of mentorship - and I suppose that they would be right. However, this mentor relationship is defined for a specific need, and is time limited. The key benefit is that this form of development opportunity has high impact and is sustainable. The added benefit is the networking opportunities that it creates for the member of staff, and the exposure to a wider range of issues beyond their current sphere of work.
In essence, this idea is based on one of my key principles that development and growth is natural, given the right conditions. Choosing the right role model and having the opportunity to observe, then reflect and discuss with them their approach can happen in any organisation, anywhere. The example I give is just one way that a manager can demonstrate creative thinking when identifying the appropriate learning method to meet a development need.
When you're next completing a Personal Development Plan for a member of your staff - try and think creatively. If you need inspiration - please feel free to ask.
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